Chapter 6: Teen Magazines: The Wrong Message?

SOCIAL influence; YOUTHS' periodicals; MASS media & youth; PERIODICALS; YOUNG adult literature; TEENAGERS

This chapter focuses on the influence of teen magazines on U.S. teenagers. In a society where 36 percent of teen girls believe themselves overweight, according to a 2004 Gallup Poll, this idealization of the ultra-thin body can lead to unhealthy behavior among girls and young women. A 1999 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that 69 percent of girls surveyed admitted that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape. Forty-seven percent of the girls tried to lose weight because of the pictures, even though only 29 percent of those surveyed were actually overweight.